Watch Carrie Fisher Land the Role of Princess Leia in This Star Wars Audition Tape

Carrie Fisher passed away on Tuesday at the age of 60, after suffering a heart attack. The iconic actress was beloved for a host of roles, from her recent part on Catastrophe and her work as an author and oft-sought script doctor to her tireless efforts as a mental-health advocate. But there's one credit for which Fisher will always be most-known and most-loved: Princess Leia in the Star Wars films.

As Fisher's legacy is forged in the wake of her death, it's good to remember that our love for Leia—who proved you could be a princess and a total badass—was never some fluke. Even from her very first audition, the actress owned the part completely, making Leia every bit the model of a tough but fair leader.

Watching the footage is all the more impressive when you remember that Star Wars was Fisher's big break. Famous parents aside, she was pretty much unknown when she signed on. And not only does she immediately ground the potentially silly-sounding dialogue about Death Stars and droids into something real, but she does so while auditioning with the very formidable and already established Harrison Ford.

Indeed, their crackling chemistry is at the bedrock of the original trilogy's classic status, and it's immediately apparent in Fisher's audition. Even with just Ford's voice meeting Fisher's nonplussed face, you can see Leia talking to Han Solo like she is the only person in the galaxy to wave through his bravado. Fisher may have been the only person alive not a little bit scared of Harrison Ford...or she was just that good an actor.

Princess Leia's iconography may be in those buns or that gold bikini she famously despised as a feminist, but it's Carrie Fisher who made any of that mean anything, and the future Star Wars movies will miss her presence sorely (luckily, her work on Episode VIII is reportedly complete).